HEBRON, Thursday, October 13, 2022 (WAFA) – Dozens suffocated today as Israeli forces quelled the funeral procession of a slain Palestinian in Beit Ummar town and al-Arroub refugee camp, north of Hebron, according to local sources.

They said that Israeli forces cracked down on the funeral procession of 17-year-old Osama Mahmoud Hassan Adawi, who was shot in the abdomen with live ammunition and pronounced dead shortly after his arrival at the Arab Society Hospital in Beit Jala on Wednesday evening.

The funeral procession set off from Al-Ahli Hospital in Hebron city and made its way to the refugee camp as thousands of participants were forced to take long alternative routes through Sa‘ir town due to the lockdown imposed on the refugee camp.

The gun-toting soldiers fired barrages of concussion grenades and tear gas canisters at the participants, causing dozens to suffocate.

Meanwhile, the soldiers stationed at the entrance of Beit Ummar intensively fired tear gas canisters towards civilian houses, resulting in dozens of suffocation cases.

Osama is the sixth teenager (including five minors) killed by Israeli fire in the occupied West Bank in less than a week.

Israeli forces have now shot and killed 106 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in 2022, including 29 children. This marks a sharp increase over last year’s toll of 90 Palestinians shot and killed in the West Bank for the whole of 2021, and an average of 41 during the Netanyahu era.

In December 2021, the Israeli military changed its rules of engagement in the occupied West Bank, explicitly allowing its soldiers to shoot-to-kill Palestinians even if they are fleeing and presenting no danger.

K.F.